title: Patterns of medicinal plant use by inhabitants of Brazilian urban and rural areas: a macroscale investigation based on available literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the relationship between local people and plants may be idiosyncratic, some human behaviors are common to different communities and can be influenced by cultural and environmental factors. Thus, this study drew upon a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate if there are patterns of medicinal plant use in different Brazilian ethnobotanical studies and if these patterns are influenced by the urbanization or ecosystems where the studies were conducted.
  
  
  METHODS
  The factors evaluated concerned the origin of the species used (native vs. exotic), plant habit (woody vs. non-woody) and plant parts (permanent and non-permanent). Two kinds of analysis were performed: the integrative and the meta-analytical.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The factors varied depending on the ecosystems in which the studies were conducted. In the Amazon, Cerrado and Caatinga, native and woody medicinal species dominated; conversely, this pattern was not the case for the Atlantic Forest and Pampas ecosystems. Permanent plant parts were predominant in the Cerrado, and considering only native plants, permanent parts dominated in the Amazon, Cerrado and Caatinga. Urbanization did not significantly affect these patterns. Additionally, the species relative importance (RI) did not change as a function of the ecosystem or the degree of urbanization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The phenomena observed in this study can be explained in light of the chemical ecology and historical and cultural aspects of the species, and the findings have important implications for bioprospecting and conservation.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciências Ambientais e Desenvolvimento Sustentável (Institute of Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development), Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia (Federal University of Western Bahia), Estrada do Barrocão, s/n, Morada Nobre, Barreiras 47800-000, BA, Brazil. Electronic address: patricia.muniz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Patrícia Muniz
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: de Medeiros
authors.forename: Ana Haydée
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Ladio
authors.forename: Ulysses Paulino
authors.initials: UP
authors.lastname: Albuquerque
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population
keywords: Human ecology; Meta-analysis; Quantitative ethnobotany; Traditional knowledge